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I happened to find this short film on Film Riot’s channel via Youtube, and thought it looked interesting, and decided to check it out.

This is an action movie with ambiguity of the underlying premise of the story. However, overall, I thought that this film was good, considering that it was a low budget film.

Many of the fight scenes were nailed, and realistic. The acting [outside of dialogue] was fantastic from all the actors, except for the antagonist. I didn’t think that the part of this particular antagonist fit the natural personality of person who played the character. However, it was still above mediocre.

Cliche would be a word that would be commonly tossed around if there was a discussion circle about this film. Especially with the antagonist. His mannerisms and actions were too cliche, and not original [in my opinion]. However, the protagonist lived up to the stereotype that if they don’t talk, they mean business. I always heard growing up that the people that talk the most smack is usually not someone that can physically get the job done, but that common thought was put aside in this film. The protagonist did a good job with the acting, and the actions. However, the dialogue [small amount] that the person did for this was slightly less intimidating when his voice was heard. His voice was not intimidating enough. When I’m thinking about a film like this, Liam Neeson’s voice resonates through my mind, and is projected onto the character.

Yes, the antagonist has to have the upper hand in order to give the protagonist something to overcome, but the voice and intensity of the protagonist is what causes the loss of credibility to me on this film. However, like I said, the actions were very good.

The gun shots, and the special effects were [in my opinion] less than mediocre. I suppose that they would pass for a low-budget film. However, this is not something that would win major awards in my opinion. Hand-to-hand combat was brilliant, and the moves were fantastic. It was intense, and that had a lot to do with the camera angles, and the hand-held shots as well. Very nice.

I think that the choice of dialogue from both the protagonist and the antagonist could have been better thought out. Some of the things that were said were the climax that music built up to, but was an extreme let down. It was as if some parts wanted to max out climatically, but were not intense enough, and were not said well enough to give it the full climatic effect that they [I assume] were going for.

Rebounding from the success of my short film Cut, I have just finished a recent project. It’s another short film entitled, Osiris. A short film that covers a lifetime of experience, and how a man’s memory slips into what seems like the abyss of non-existence. And I think that we have all experienced that at one point or another in our lives.

We are hurt by someone, or someone has hurt us, and instead of dealing with the issue, we drown ourselves with certain medication [because evidently we have become depressed], and we look for other ways to make our problems disappear. I think that there are more healthy ways to deal with heartbreak and disappointment than shoving pills down our throats, and looking for satisfaction in places that are only more damaging in the long run.

I am not confident that I can speak for everyone, but I think that it would do us good if we dealt with our problems in a more healthy, and thoughtful way. When we are hurt by something, we need to deal with those problems, and face them. Running away from sadness and anger is being passive against ourselves, and only creates more paranoia, and puts up a wall that blocks potential relationships from occurring.

And that’s what this story is about. A man is puzzled when he sees his wife with another man, and cannot understand how his wife could have moved on so quickly, seemingly forgetting about all the memories that they had shared together for all those years. It just shows the natural selfishness that humans have. However, I don’t believe that to be a completely negative thing. We need selfishness is some respects in order to survive, and to advance as a part of this vast globe that we dwell on.

We damage more people than we know when we choose to forget or pretend that something hasn’t happened when someone is/was involved. No matter how hard we try, a memory is a memory, and nothing can change that. If someone hurts us, we are able to forgive them [possibly], but we are never able to forget, and I think that is somewhat of a good thing. Why would you want to forget an experience? It’s because of that experience that you [hopefully] do not step into the same situation in the future.

I hear people all the time complaining that someone hurt them, and that they wish they could just forget all about them and the situation that happened. These are the people that are impulsive and have not thought about what that would actually mean. If they didn’t experience it, then they experience that tragedy in the future. Every experience happens regardless if we want it to or not, and we need to learn to face each situation accordingly.

This story is about a man’s memory being completed stuffed in the subconscious of his wife after he passes away, and instead of coping with her loss, she decides to find someone else to “replace” her dead husband. But that’s the question, isn’t it? Can you actually fully and truly replace someone that you once loved for someone that is “coming off the bench” to take the spot of the most pivotal person in your life? I think that would be a clear and resonating, NO!!!

Osiris will be a film that I recommend everyone watch, and learn from. It just might put things in perspective for you and your relationship(s) in the future.

My friend John Wachs and myself decided to take part in University of Alabama’s CMF [Campus Moviefest] competition. Unlike every other group that competed, we only used two people behind the camera. I wrote the script, and did the sound while John was behind the camera and did the lights.

I thought that we would be the underdogs. Every other group seemed to have more people involved with more experience. John stayed very confident all the way through though at times I was sort of discouraged [being that this was my first ever project that would be on film]. We pulled off a fantastic film in less than 72 hours, and had to have it turned in [we only had 6 days to get production and post production done].

We showed up the night of the reveal of the top 16 out of the 157 groups that competed. We didn’t have many supporters show up to the reveal unlike many other groups. They revealed the top 16 films… and we MADE IT! At that moment, it was a complete relief and encouragement that we had done at least better than most of the groups. We must have done something correct.

At the end of the reveal, they gave out awards, and three of the films would go on to Hollywood for the next step of competition. We did not receive best comedy, picture, or drama. However, John got the directors award, and we were admitted into the Black Warrior Film Festival that represents all of the Southeast in Birmingham, Alabama.

We were informed that night that the video that receives the most views will also get admitted into the Hollywood competition—to show some “democracy”. This is John and I’s dream to be able to have a film featured in Hollywood and be able to make a trip out there to see how the business works and to get some useful contacts.

I say all of that to say this: please support us, and help us get the most views. We were truly the underdogs, and I couldn’t be more proud of the five people that were involved in this short film. Please take some time to watch and SHARE this film. We are shooting for 2,500-3,000 views within the next three weeks.